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Employee says he can't take any more knowledge in

Rachel Swatridge

I need some help with my thinking regarding an employee.  I believe we have two issues with him, one won't do and potentially one can't do.

The won't do are several incidents where he has been told by his manager not to do something and he has done it again!  His manager has spoken to him and made it clear that if it happens again we may instigate a formal procedure.

At the same time when his manager spoke to him about the won't do incidents, the employee also informed her that he was unable to take on any more knowledge and if he was trained on a new subject something else would drop out of his brain (I kid you not, this is what he said).

I advised the manager to speak to him to try and understand what his issue was and what we can do to help, ie did he need more training, a different way of being trained, etc.

The employee just re-iterated the issue that he can't take any more knowledge in and related it to a car fuel tank and he's nearly full and he can't take any more in.

We provide ERP software to small/medium size businesses and the employee's role is consultancy so he is liaising with new/existing customers to understand their processes and advise them on the appropriate solutions.  The role requires a wealth of knowledge and experience which is built up from previous experience and training etc provided by us.

I'm really not sure what to do here, my instinct is to put him onto a PIP or should I consider something else?  Is this a won't do as well, ie he is not prepared to learn anything else?

Regards
Rachel

  • I had something very like this. The staff member was very transparent and honest in a discussion with me. When we dug a little deeper he described it as having too many filing cabinet drawers open, referring to the breadth of work he had and not being able to remember the detail of what was in each drawer, he was worried that by opening more 'drawers' it would all the cabinets would topple over. What we came up with was a prioritised plan of what he had to deliver and when so that he was able to open, then shut each drawer having completed on that piece of work. So, it was a bit like a PIP but as I said, he was very open.
  • I'm interested why he keeps doing things despite being told not to. This sounds like the main issue. Once you know that you'll be able to see if there's any underlying link between the two - bloodyminded and attention seeking? or Autistic? or Stress? or something else
  • It really doesn't sound like 'won't do' to me so the initial approach should be supportive rather than disciplinary. I think the first thing I would want to ask would be whether there are any issues at home, e.g. family, health or financial concerns which may be affecting his performance at work. If so, has he spoken to anyone about these issues?

    He does sound like he is at breaking point. At the very least he may benefit from taking some time off to recharge his batteries?
  • This has turned into a really interesting discussion. Thanks for starting it!
  • in reply to Steve Bridger
    I was basing this on the assumption of all other avenues being explored and discussed in concert with employee as I agree that to refer without discussion would be a bolt out of the blue. Like Isabel says on the surface it doesnt sound like 'wont do' - I have seen an example very similar to this where the employee kept writing himself little messages and notes to try and keep a track of things but kept forgetting to either pass on the notes to the relevant person or wasnt able to recall the reason/context behind the message. At the root of this was a cognitive issue which the candidate hadnt disclosed because he himself had never been formally diagnosed though he had 'suspected' there might be something.
  • Thought I would provide an update to this. Myself and the line manager had a conversation with the employee this morning with a view to understanding the issues and to look what we could do to help. He started by saying he had no idea why he felt like this, however, digging a bit more it looks like he struggling with workload and working with multiple customers. There is no personal dimension to it. We have made some suggestions regarding time management techniques which he is going to look at implementing, his line manager is going to look at his workload and we said we will follow up with him in a few weeks time.
  • in reply to Rachel Swatridge
    Sounds like a plan, hope all goes well Rachel